New York was awash with protesters on Friday, as thousands came out in support of more than 880 Palestinians killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive. There are increasingly deep fault lines between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel supporters worldwide.

Anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 demonstrators flooded the streets
around Times Square, with the police keeping a watchful eye on
the crowds, who waved Palestinian flags and signs condemning
Israel and criticizing US aid to the Jewish state, Reuters
reported.

"We're trying to break the siege and end the killing in
Palestine. We just want them to live like human beings,"
said Ramsay Jamal, an American of Palestinian descent, who
protested with his eight-year-old son on his shoulders. The child
held a banner with the words – ‘Israel, I’m just a kid. Please
don’t kill me’, with a child’s hand prints in red paint around
the words.

It wasn’t apparent who organized the protests, but the crowd drew
people from towns and areas far outside New York City – one
resident of Connecticut, a nursing student, talked of her parents
fleeing from the Gaza Strip decades ago from what was essentially
a military operation just like the one seen today.

"Even though I don't live in that country, the country lives
in me," the 21-year-old Raya Karzoun told the news agency.

The situation in New York mirrored the dozens of protests that
have been occurring in major cities worldwide since the start of
Israel’s military onslaught on Hamas positions almost three weeks
ago.

France saw some of the more violent reactions to the events, as
protests were banned in some cities and the police had to step in
numerous times to protect Jews hiding in Synagogues against a
raging crowd. At the same time, hardline Jewish groups also stood
accused of instigating the unrest in France, which is home to
some of the largest Jewish and Palestinian populations in the
world.

At least 844 Palestinians have lost their lives in Operation
Edge, which has recently gone into a ground warfare phase, an
alarming escalation in Palestinian civilian casualties, which
number 80 percent of all dead, a large fraction of them children.
Israel lost 37 troops in the hostilities.

Numerous attempts at ceasefire have taken place since the start
of Israel’s offensive, the most recent put into force on
Saturday, as the sides agreed a 12-hour cessation of hostilities
to allow for humanitarian assistance to be delivered.